It’s nearing end of summer and slowly, folks are getting back from vacation or they are out shopping for school supplies.  Maybe a last minute golf game with friends, or perhaps colleagues.  A day at the beach if weather permits.  As we see the first signs of the leaves turn color, we turn to that busy planning month of September.

We all get back from the lazy (lazier?) days of summer, and think about how we can get back to changing the world.  If we were lucky, we’ve made progress in our Enterprise Architecture Programs - or perhaps not so lucky, but were the beneficiaries of good planning - to keep the program moving forward.

Most companies take a fresh look come September - and feel it’s their new school year.  And with that comes planning.  And hand in hand with the plan is our strategy.   The Enterprise Architecture team and program need to create a strategy early in its life.  We need to develop both a sponsorship and sales plan.  We need to analyze our organization and determine whether or it’s metrixed.

If so, you have a strong culture of process discipline.  Evaluate the organizational maturity by figuring out how well the entity will tolerate change and watching the development of a grand strategy unfold.

As mentioned previously, it is critical to identify the stakeholders.  If possible, you view the enterprise, and determine where the market is for EA.  In doing so, you need to know where the locus of power resides, who is respected, who is ignored and who has the political capital that is required to drive such a large initiative.

Your strategy flows forth from the analysis of your stakeholders.   Create a matrix yourself as part of your strategy analysis exercise.  For each stakeholder, know which product they would be interested in, or benefit from.  List what value they would gain and what your competitor positioning would be.  Identify who might also offer the same “products” to your stakeholders.  Know their strengths, as well as their weaknesses.

Want the rest of this article - see the full report.

Part 3 of a 5 part series on Promoting EA

Ever ask a CIO “What keeps you up at night?”  If you asked the same question to your CEO, their top 5 initiatives are pretty much all he thinks about from morning til night.

You can bet that at least four of them impact bottom line or share price.   If the CEO’s top five are financially driven, you can bet that the CIO’s initiatives and forethoughts will match.  Using a little information economics, the principal drivers of your sales plan, your search for support had better be underlined in value, as that is almost all he or she will be thinking about as you propose or promote your program.  Ensure that the shortest form of your elevator speech = value!

Most CEO’s would prefer to focus on how they can get more value out of what they already have.  They are also really interested in what they can spend less money on.  Finally, they are very intrigued by anything that shows in a compelling manner how they might reduce the risk of their investment in information technology strategies.

Here’s where we come in.  Architecture initiatives in both the public and private sectors have typically had a poor record of success.  Frequently we have seen more restarts than fresh starts.  The impediments have been of two types: technical (products and methods) and cultural. The industry has made substantial progress in overcoming the technical barriers. However, for most organizations, the cultural obstacles have become much more significant.

It is also difficult as we are focused on long term future initiatives and showing the returns later in the cycle.   We’ve often tried selling to the wrong customer, and selling the wrong “product”.  There is perceived high risk of implementation.

The business sees that current systems do not meet critical business requirements and lack flexibility to adapt to changing business needs.  It is difficult to quantify benefits of deploying technology.  What is typically forefront in the memory of those who pay the bills is deployment for the sake of technology.  We’ve seen so many of our current systems developed “ad-hoc” and the lack of organized planning lead to higher operating costs and duplication of effort.  There has frequently been an unacceptable speed of delivery which most likely caused negative effects on time to market.

So - What Do We Do?

We need to ensure that architecture is business driven.  We need a strategy to create and communicate our plans and the benefits.   Get all the details on creating this strategy.   If you want to know how to make these  efforts work at your organization, see our training schedule.

Happy Architecting!

And What’s the Difference?

It’s been a long time since I wrote part 1, but I’ll try to get the next few parts out asap.  If you recall, I was writing about the purpose and reasons for Enterprise Architecture.

Along with planning and strategy, execution is critical.  We must create and tailor our messages for our audiences in the most appropriate manners, and continually educate and grow support for the program.  If the business community cannot see value in this endeavor, then they are not ready.   That is yet another subject to be explored else where (ask me about readiness assessments).

You - the Chief Architect or Enterprise Architect, may have to put on a few public presentations - or private.  Each must be carefully crafted for the audience at hand.  If your organization is very green - well - they may need the “what is architecture” speech.  If they are more advanced, and you are purely looking for funding, you need to really familiarize yourself with the business strategy, cherry pick a few points, and then use a very carefully selected set of benefits and craft a presentation.

The presentation may have to be tailored for each audience you visit - the CEO/Funder, the CIO, other IT Groups, other business functional groups, consultants, and any other external support.  Before crafting the presentation, create a mind map or “story board” of your intended audiences and key messages that you wish to share.

Your sole purpose of such an exercise is getting buy-in!  It might not be actual funding, but you need to gain momentum so that you can get it once you ask.  They must understand before they can grant you their support.

Sponsorship vs. Support - There is a big difference!

Sponsorship is where a person or group pays for and assumes responsibility for the effort to be carried out.  This is usually the CIO, and potentially the CEO or IT Steering committees.  Support is someone or groups that support the effort or initiative.  They uphold, defend and promote EA as valid or the best approach by lending their assistance and public support.  Support is sought by all groups and domains that are affected and impacted by the creation, development and finally governance of the Enterprise Architecture.

Sponsorship and support require continuous education, promotion and communication.   If you want more information about the tools and resources you would need to uphold such an endeavor, get the entire report

Happy Architecting

Monday is as good as any to do something new.  For most, above average.  Well - today I figured I’d **make** the time to move this blog to the Architect Boot Camp site.  Here it is - hope you benefit from it and I do have plans (hopes) to post much more regularly.

What’s new?  I’ve been really busy getting the fall 2008-09 Architect Boot Camp Workshop schedule completed, as well as some drafts on my book and the course ware updated.  I’ve gone with a new set of lab exercises, as well as a lot of more up to date content.  After a recent speech at the Open Group Enterprise Architecture Conference, in Chicago in July, I felt that a more expansive section on TOGAF was warranted.

As well, the Firefli Web Site has been updated with a new blog format, so that I have a hope (and a prayer) of keeping these things up to date!

Upcoming events are detailed on both the Architect Boot Camp site, as well as Firefli.  I will be giving a speech “Good To Great – Paving the Road to Excellence for the Enterprise Architect”at the upcoming Enterprise Architecture Conference, provided by IIR.  More details as they are posted on their site.

Happy Architecting!

Sharon